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Texas House passes impeachment motion against Attorney General Ken Paxton

Austin — Republican-led House of Representatives of Texas Impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton Saturday came a sudden and historic rebuke to a Republican official who rose to stardom in the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and criminal allegations over articles on bribery and abuse of public trust.

Impeachment triggers Paxton’s impeachment immediate suspension It gave Republican Governor Greg Abbott the power to provisionally appoint another person as Texas’ top attorney, pending the outcome of a trial in the state Senate.

A 121-23 vote would mean a sudden downfall for one of the Republican Party’s most prominent litigators who called on the Supreme Court to overturn the election results of President Joe Biden in 2020. The defeat of Donald Trump. This makes Paxton the third sitting civil servant to be impeached in Texas’ almost 200-year history.

Mr. Paxton, 60, denounced the move shortly after many of his fellow party members voted for impeachment, and his office pointed to an internal report that found no wrongdoing.

“Today’s ugly spectacle in the Texas House of Representatives confirmed that the outrageous impeachment plan against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said. “It was a politically motivated scam from the beginning.”

Paxton is been under investigation by the FBI for years A separate securities fraud indictment was filed in 2015 over accusations of using the office to help donors, but has yet to go to trial. The party has long been silent on the allegations, but that changed this week when 60 of 85 House Republicans, including Speaker Dade Phelan, voted in favor of impeachment. bottom.

Rep. David Spiller, a Republican member of the committee that investigated Mr. Paxton, said in his opening statement that “no person should be above the law, especially not the head of the legal system in Texas.” Another Republican committee member, Rep. Charlie Jellen, declined to elaborate that Mr. Paxton called some lawmakers before the vote and threatened political “consequences.”

Lawmakers allied with Paxton tried to discredit the investigation by pointing out that it was hired investigators, not panel members, who interviewed witnesses. He also said some of the investigators voted in the Democratic primaries and tainted impeachment, and that there was far too little time to consider the evidence.

Rep. Tony Tinderholt, one of the House’s most conservative lawmakers, said before the vote, “We recognize the potential for political weaponization of this.” Republican Rep. John Smithee likened the case to “a mob at a Saturday afternoon lynching.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke Friday at his office in Austin, Texas.Eric Gay/AP

Paxton is been under investigation by the FBI for years A separate securities fraud indictment was filed in 2015 over accusations of using the office to help donors, but has yet to go to trial. The party has long been silent on the allegations, but that changed this week when 60 of 85 House Republicans, including Speaker Dade Phelan, voted in favor of impeachment. bottom.

Rep. David Spiller, a Republican member of the committee that investigated Mr. Paxton, said in his opening statement that “no person should be above the law, especially not the head of the legal system in Texas.” Another Republican committee member, Rep. Charlie Jellen, declined to elaborate that Mr. Paxton called some lawmakers before the vote and threatened political “consequences.”

Lawmakers allied with Paxton tried to discredit the investigation by pointing out that it was hired investigators, not panel members, who interviewed witnesses. He also said some of the investigators voted in the Democratic primaries and tainted impeachment, and that there was far too little time to consider the evidence.

Rep. Tony Tinderholt, one of the House’s most conservative lawmakers, said before the vote, “We recognize the potential for political weaponization of this.” Republican Rep. John Smithee likened the case to “a mob at a Saturday afternoon lynching.”

A ballot board lights up with a majority green light as the House votes to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, Saturday, May 27, 2023.
On Saturday, the ballot board lit up with a majority green light as the House voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton on the House floor of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.Eric Gay/AP

Paxton is automatically suspended until the Senate trial begins. A final impeachment would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Paxton’s wife, Angela, belongs.

The governor’s representatives, who praised Mr. Paxton when he was sworn in for a third term in January, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about his temporary replacement.

Before Saturday’s vote, President Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz defended Mr. Paxton, saying the senators should call the impeachment process a “farce” and that the attorney general’s legal matters should be left to the courts.

“Free Ken Paxton,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, warning that “I will fight you” if House Republicans proceed with impeachment.

In some ways, Paxton’s political crisis has come with dizzying speed: House Commission investigation It was discovered on Tuesday, and by Thursday lawmakers 20 articles of impeachment.

But for Paxton’s detractors, the reprimand was years too late.

He admitted to violating Texas securities laws in 2014 and was indicted a year later on securities fraud charges for defrauding investors in a tech startup near his hometown of Dallas. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts that carry a possible sentence of five to 99 years.

He set up a defense fund, accepted $100,000 From a company executive under investigation by the Paxton office for alleged Medicaid fraud. An additional $50,000 of his was donated by retirees from Arizona. His son Paxton was later hired by the company. high-ranking job but was soon dismissed show child pornography In a meeting. 2020, Paxton intervened in the mountains of Colorado A community in Texas where donors and college classmates faced eviction from their lakeside homes due to coronavirus mandates.

But it was Paxton’s relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul that ultimately sparked the impeachment push.

In 2020, eight aides told the FBI that Mr. Paxton abused the office To help Paul with a developer’s unproven allegations that an elaborate conspiracy is underway to steal $200 million of Paul’s fortune. The FBI raided Paul’s home in 2019, but he has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing. Paxton also told staff he had an illness. affair with a woman It was later revealed that the person had worked for Paul.

In the impeachment proceedings, Paxton is accused of trying to intervene in foreclosure proceedings and issuing legal opinions that benefit Paul. The bribery charges allege that Paul hired and paid for a woman who had an affair with Paxton in exchange for legal assistance. expensive renovation to the Attorney General’s house.

Paxton’s firm’s senior attorney, Chris Hilton, said Friday that the attorney general paid for all repairs and renovations.

Other charges, including falsehoods against investigators, date back to Mr. Paxton’s pending securities fraud indictment.

Four of the aides who reported Mr. Paxton to the FBI later filed a lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblower Act, and Mr. Paxton agreed to settle the lawsuit in February. $3.3 million. A House committee said Paxton had sought legislative approval for the payments that sparked the investigation.

“However, Paxton will not be impeached because of the taxpayer’s demand for settlement of Paxton’s own misconduct,” the commission said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-house-set-impeachment-proceedings-g-paxton-rcna86557 Texas House passes impeachment motion against Attorney General Ken Paxton

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